The Grace of a Beast
by Charlemagne Ward
Summary: Beauty and the Beast, or is it? Is the beast a beast? Our "Beauty" certainly isn't who you are thinking Rate and review please. I could really use the critique to improve.
1. Chapter 1

Authors note: I have no idea where I'm going with this, I'm going to try to make this different from the normal Beauty and the beast stories you may have read, but I would really appreciate some reviews and critiques if you all don't mind Enjoy!

The Grace of a Beast

Once, not so long ago, a merchant had 3 daughters. The first daughter, Luxure, was the oldest, she had a very thin frame and a long face, like that of a horse, she was blond, with sharp arched eyebrows and a narrow pointed nose. She was also very vain. She cared for nothing but herself and her possessions, and having the money she needed to buy more. The middle daughter, Paresse, was much the same as her older sister, she however was short and plump, with a small face like that of a cherry, round and red. She was a brunette, and had thick, large eyebrows and small pinched eyes, brown like her sisters. She loved to eat, and she cared only for herself and for the gourmet sweets she always loved to eat. Now the youngest daughter, however, she was a different story. She was tall, taller than most, and fairly plain by most standards. She was quiet, almost invisible, and her name was Genre. The merchant was always busy with his work and left all house housework up to his daughters, expecting each of them to do their fair share but in reality genre did it all. She washed the laundry, fed the animals, catered to her sisters' needs, cooked and cleaned. She had almost no time for herself. Any spare time she had was devoted to reading, anything and everything. Her thirst for knowledge rivaled even that of her sisters' love of things and of food. She never spend time on her clothes and hair, resulting in a rather haggard appearance, but if one looked closely, they would see that under her haphazardly tied cap was bright, beautiful red hair, redder then the first roses of spring. If one looked at her eyes, past the gray underneath her eyes from sleeplessness, past the half lidded stare of perpetual tiredness, one would see big, bright brown eyes, flecked with gold. Her sisters' eyes may have been as brown as hers, but hers were better, her eyes held a spark, a spark of adventure and imagination.

The merchant was successful; however the keyword there is "was". Through a series of bad luck, bad investments and a storm that completely destroyed almost all of his ships, the family was left destitute. They had to move from their lavish home in the cities to a small run down cottage in the country. They now lived in a cottage on the outskirts of a town called Tranquille, with no more than one hundred people, it was quite a change to say the least. The merchant and Genre adjusted fairly well for the most part, but Luxure and Paresse, did not. The often whined and complained about the loss of their money and lifestyle and most of the time never even left their beds. To say they were not happy was a gross understatement. The merchant became a farmer and Genre took care of the house and animals, they made their small simple living by selling their goods at the village's tiny market. The little families life fell into a routine, until . . .


	2. Chapter 2

Authors Note: OMG this is hard to write lol. On to the next chapter! Also, thank you to my very first reviewer Clara Spencer! I know its predictable now but it's about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Genre and her family had lived in their new cottage home for about a week, during that entire time the family was so busy unpacking that they had never once ventured into town. The end of the week approached however and it was time for the family's first trip to market. Luxure and Paresse declined the offer to go, both with the same reason;

"We have no money to spend!" the both whined as their father looked at them disapprovingly.

"Now, now girls, it doesn't mean you cannot have a good time."

"We won't go!" They both screeched. Their father sighed and bid them goodbye shutting the cottage door behind him. It was times like this that he really wished his wife were alive. She always knew what to do in these kinds of situations. He shrugged his shoulders and went to help Genre hitch up their horse and buggy and then they drove into town.

The town was not what they expected. Not at all. It was not like the quaint little towns one reads about in fairy tales, far from it, everything seemed . . . gray. That was the only word Genre could think of as they rode into town. Everything, even the colors of the plants were just bland. Even the sky, which above the families little cottage was bright and blue, was filled with gray clouds, not quite threatening rain, but not quite safe from the occasional drop. The few people they did see were quick to hide themselves in a shop or house.

"Not quite trusting of strangers are they." Genre muttered dryly. Her father chuckled quietly. They stopped in the center of town and tied up their horse. Genre and her father both agreed to meet back at the town square in 2 hours, it gave Genre enough time to find what she needed, and her father enough time to look for some part time work until the growing season.

Genre got to work, going into any shop that had a window clearly signifying what it was, none of the shops had names on them, so it was hard to distinguish what was what. She went into the bakery, the apothecary, the general store and finally the butchers. The butcher assessed her; he took in her once fine clothes, seeing the patches and tatters and seemed to make his own conclusions. Genre by now was starting to get a little annoyed, this was the fourth shopkeeper to do this, and after the second shopkeeper, she gave up asking them not to, in her words (though by no means the words she actually said to them as she was too well bred for that) "Judge her like a piece of meat or a prized horse." Finally the quick tempo tapping of her foot alerted the man that he was staring and he quickly put his head down and asked for her order. After leaving the butchers she sighed in relief, she was now done with shopping and preceded to head back to the buggy. Or at least, that was her plan until she heard music coming from the tavern across the street, it peeked her curiosity. Maybe this town wasn't as dreary as it looked?


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: Long chapter *smiles* enjoy

She looked around, and seeing no one, scurried up the porch steps to look in the taverns dirty window. The inside of the tavern, to Genre's surprise, looked quite warm and inviting. About half a dozen simple wooden tables and chairs were strewn about the room and a small five stool bar sat directly in the back of the room from the double doors. Off to the right was a large fireplace as tall as she! All around it were people, some sitting, some standing; it was a gathering of some sort. All the people we different ages, men, women, and children, they all appeared to be watching something that the smudge covered glass obstructed. Genre used her sleeve to wipe it off and saw what looked to be a play. A piano was playing the haunting tone that had drawn her to the tavern and a man stood in the middle of the crowd. He was tall and muscular, with long blond hair; he wore face paint and the pelt of a giant animal, like none she had ever seen! Her curiosity was unrivaled now, and, as she had always loved a good story, she couldn't help but go inside to hear what was being said. Quickly, before she could change her mind, she put up her hood and entered the tavern.

She slipped in quietly so as not to draw attention to herself and stood in the back. She was too short to see what was going on, but she could hear. They seemed to be telling a story.

"_-the monster had consumed all the villages' livestock! The sheep, the cows! All of it! Our people were left with nothing but bones! The only thing they knew for certain was that the creature was no ordinary wolf. It was a monster! It had large teeth the length of your arm! Taller than any man, nine, no ten feet! Its fur was brown, course and long, its nails razor sharp! The people knew once it ran out of livestock, it would be after their children with its monstrous appetite."_

"_They became so desperate that they relied on a last resort, the old witch of the woods. She said that the only way the monster would stop tormenting them was to go to the old abandoned castle in the middle of the forest and leave the beast a virgin sacrifice. The town was small then, half of what it is now, and they had only one virgin, a woman named Beauty, who was engaged to the town's most eligible bachelor, Magnifique. Magnifique venimently opposed sending anyone into the forest, let alone his beloved Beauty, but the town's people were too desperate to listen to reason. Beauty knew how important the livestock was to the people of the town, including her father, so she agreed to sacrifice herself. The old witch of the woods gave the towns people directions to the castle and they carried Beauty off to her doom. Or did they? You see, the dashing hero Magnifique had devised a plan to rescue his beloved Beauty. He tried to get directions from the old witch, but she wouldn't give them to him, so he decided to head out and search for himself. He formed a hunting party and went into the forest to find the castle and his Beauty. However, after two months past, Magnifique returned to no avail, he couldn't find his beloved Beauty."_

" _Months past, no one knew what had happened to Beauty; all they knew what that they no longer had to fear the monstrous beast. The season changed, summer, fall, winter and then spring. Then, on one warm spring morning, to the shock of the town's people, they awoke to see Beauty in the town square, and she told a tale of horror! The beast did not eat her but held her prisoner in his decrepit castle! She had escaped his monstrous clutches and came to the town with hope that they would kill the beast that had tormented her so! She knew the way back to the castle and all the men of the village gathered their guns and were off. Magnifique was so happy to have his beloved Beauty back, he would have done anything to make her happy, including kill her monstrous captor. They made it to the castle and went about searching for the monster! Soon night fell, and just as the men were about to give up their search and return home Magnifique saw the monster in the courtyard! He yelled for his men and they charged, swords drawn. It was a fury of swords and claws and teeth, in the end the beast was captured and the hero Magnifique cut off its head, skinned it, and brought back its pelt to show the towns people his victory!"_

Someone in front of Genre shifted, and she could see the man speaking to the crowd.

"_And that pelt, is THIS ONE!" _The man talking whipped off his pelt and tossed it on the floor for all to see, one little girl cried out in fright.

"You have nothing to fear my child," The man said. "My grandfather killed this beast and if ever another monster were to appear, I would kill it myself!"

After his speech was done the crowd applauded, then went back to their business. Some left, and the rest sat in the chairs of the tavern with a mug of something-or-other. It left Genre out in the open rather quickly, too quickly to slip out the door unnoticed, and she was seen by the man who had been telling the story. His eyes widened in surprise and he came over and introduced himself before Genre could get away.

"Hello Mademoiselle." He grabbed her hand and raised it to his lips.

"I am Magnifique the third. I do not believe I have seen you around here before. Are you from the new family I heard was moving into the house on the outskirts of town?" He smiled devilishly.

"Oh - I- um, Yes. I am Genre." She finally stuttered out. He was quite handsome, and although Genre tried her best to value a person's insides rather than out, she couldn't help but be a bit flustered.

"Genre, you have a lovely name. I hope we see each other again, but it looks as though that man in the doorway wants your attention." Magnifique smiled again and after bidding her ado, returned to his friends.

Genre turned around and saw her father in the doorway. She went to him and they both left the tavern and went to the buggy. Her father asked her if she had found everything she needed, which she said yes. Then her father had good news, he had convinced the local baker to hire him as a dish washer for the remainder of the year. They pay wasn't much, but they would make due. Her father left the town happily, however Genre had a few things on her mind. She was a thinker her mother had always said, and this was no exception. She enjoyed the story, but if it was as real as Magnifique claimed, then she had a few questions. If Beauty was gone as long as Magnifique had said, what was happening to her during all that time? Was she mistreated in any way? Tortured? Starved? And if not, why was she so set on the beast's death? Genre would have dearly loved to hear the story from Beauty's point of view, or even from the Beast's. She had always hated stories that ended with loose ties.

'Oh well,' She thought to herself. 'No use wondering about something you will never get the answer too.' She sighed. By then they had arrived home, and she went in to cook dinner.


End file.
